British MotoGP: Hayden clarifies carbon frame comments

On Friday at Silverstone Nicky Hayden wanted to clarify comments he had made to the media the previous evening, about an encouraging test with the carbon front frame at Jerez in 2011.

On Friday at Silverstone Nicky Hayden wanted to clarify comments he had made to the media the previous evening, about an encouraging test session with the 'carbon front frame' on a 1000cc Ducati at Jerez in 2011.

"I want to clear up yesterday, there was a misunderstanding when I was talking about the front frame," said Hayden. "That was an aluminium front frame that I'd liked at Jerez.

"But I've never asked, now, to try that again. That was two years ago. And at that point I would have liked maybe to have worked a bit more with it. That is way down the road, there would be no point bringing that bike out now. At the time I wish I could have rode it more and the plan was to ride it more at Valencia after the race, but I broke my wrist in the race so I didn't get to try it."

Questioned about the lap time he had given, a 1m 38.1 - which would have been pole record pace - Hayden replied: "It was a quick..." before team manager Vittoriano Guareschi stepped in to state it had actually been a 1m 39.1s.

"Ok yeah," continued Hayden, who set a 1m 39.654, as the top Ducati rider, in qualifying for this year's Spanish GP. "But regardless, at the time it was a good lap and was something positive. From there we developed the full aluminium frame, at that time it was kinda the half frame."

Although he would have liked to try the carbon-aluminium frame again, Hayden added that the single tyre rule makes the full aluminium the right choice.

"Our competitors aren't having a problem with the aluminium frame and with everybody using the same tyres I think we can't be off running a completely different chassis, if we are using tyres built around aluminium frames. Maybe if there was not spec tyres then we could afford to venture out and do something."

Asked what had been the biggest step for him personally while at Ducati, Hayden replied:

"I would say the first year [2009] we did a really good step with the electronics. We struggled at the first four or five races and I remember very clearly in Barcelona, during FP2 - the pumping [up and down movement at the rear] was the hardest thing for me to get used to, this bike pumped a lot.

"But something there with the spin control - as soon as we put it in. Bam! Immediately I felt comfortable and pretty much after that point - I didn't go great in '09 but I was able to do a podium, couple of top fives and finally ride the bike.

"After that I never really had a big problem with the pumping and that was the hardest thing to get used to. That was definitely the single biggest step we made. I mean it was just hit some buttons and boom! Instantly a lot better."

Hayden was tenth quickest on day one of the British MotoGP, 1.4s from the top and three places behind team-mate Andrea Dovizioso.

"The bike is working pretty well in some spots, even if the lap time doesn't necessarily show that completely," said Hayden. "The biggest thing holding me back at the moment is that it's very harsh over the bumps, so we've still got to sort some stuff out."